Q: Can I trim and shape my globe evergreen bushes and if so, can I do it this spring? They’ve been in place a number of years and do have dead branches inside. What would you suggest for trimming back ...

Not all evergreens require pruning — being low-maintenance is part of their appeal — but some can benefit from it. One example? Arborvitae (Thuja spp.), a lush, fast-growing conifer native to North ...

Pruning plants is one task you can take care of now before spring gardening gets busy. Learn which plants benefit, along with ...

Most bushes that flower in the summer do so on new growth. That means you can prune anything you like in the spring, since the new growth hasn’t started yet. Butterfly bush and rose of sharon fall ...

End of winter is the best time of year to prune shrubs that flower later in the growing season, i.e. from mid-June and after. The reason is that later-flowering shrubs bloom on “new wood.” This means ...

Winter pruning takes advantage of the plant’s dormancy. With sap flow slowed and leaves gone, structural flaws are easy to ...

Spring is a good time to prune most of the trees, shrubs, and evergreens in the yard. For most people, that means getting out the power shears (or chainsaw) and “whacking back the bushes” into balls ...

Having to think about plants you shouldn’t prune in winter might seem confusing. You may have heard that winter is the perfect time to prune plants since many of them are dormant. This is absolutely ...

This week, gardening columnist Don Kinzler fields questions about saving shrubs damaged by deer, when to trim back geraniums wintering in the basement, and how to kill quackgrass in peonies. A reader ...